Chasing Amy-Lou

Takeo Province, Cambodia;

Today was my last full day at Happyland. However, I woke in a foul mood – not being sure whether it was a bad case of PMS, the fact I was missing the feeling of being clean, and being able to use a toilet without pissing on myself; the fact I wanted to wear nice clothes and be able to do my hair and put some make-up on, the fact I couldn’t just jump on my phone to check my messages or emails or to Google something (because I had no wifi); the fact that I was tireder than tired and my sleeping pattern was completely shot; the fact it was my last day, and I knew there were so many things I’d wanted to achieve but hadn’t had the time to; or whether it was down to the fact that no matter how much I wanted to distance myself from the children, I felt it was just too difficult to be that cold-hearted.

Whatever the reason for my mood, by mid-morning I’d cheered up slightly, so Gold Coast, Italy and I returned to the storage to try and sort the last of the supplies and bag up the things we were going to use to make packages for the children. Now, clearing any kind of room is easier if you don’t have kids pestering you. I don’t have my own children but if I did, in order to get any kind of work done and make any kind of progress around my house I’d lock them in a different room for a few hours and leave them to fend for themselves until my job was done (haha, just kidding…kind of). This was impossible to achieve with the neighbourhood kids who came to Happyland everyday – we couldn’t lock them in a room and we couldn’t exactly shoo them away either. Their inquisitive natures and their desire to rummage through everything until they got bored or found something of interest was insatiable. So doing our best to keep them out of the storage area while we sorted was no mean feat. But with a little lighthearted bribery we managed it. Just.

That afternoon we really had fun with the kids – we played badminton with some racquets we’d found in the storage room, we played ten pin bowling and skipping, and we made use of the waterguns we’d come across too – they were an instant hit! The kids loved them, and it was heart-warming to see them full of energy, running around shooting us and each other with water; concentrating hard on winning a crucial point at badminton; and genuinely behaving like children without any cares in the world.

We chatted and laughed, they made fun of us and chased us around the grounds; we teased them and hugged them; they playfully hit us and copied our movements; we made breakthroughs in finding out about their likes and dislikes; and my aim to distance myself went right out of the window.

I tried to engage some of the kids in more spelling lessons and more word associations. It worked for about twenty minutes and then their concentrations drifted. It was clear that today was not going to be a day for academic learning and so employing different tactics were needed.

Wanting to document my time at Happyland, and wanting to remember the faces of all the children, I gathered everyone together for a group photo. We took a few snaps and some of the kids climbed on the walls and fences, pulling funny faces and doing silly poses. It was great.

Soon after, the group mentality turned to chaos and craziness; the kids began chasing us and tickling us, jumping all over us and running riot. They even managed to single London out and found his weak spot: to rapturous chants of, “Go get Nick, go get Nick”, the kids pounced and bounced on him, tackling him to the ground, tickling him. It was hilarious; London cried out for us to help him but we just stood there laughing – it was a really special moment and soon enough we all joined in on the fun; the kids climbing on our backs, tormenting us and torturing us.

There was happiness in the air at Happyland, and in those precious minutes and in that freeze-framed spell of time, I felt like my week helping these children hadn’t been futile at all – I’d done the best that I could’ve done; I’d achieved as a volunteer, what I was supposed to have achieved – I’d injected some joy into these children’s lives; I’d helped them to escape, I’d helped them to enjoy being kids; and for what it’s worth, as the sun went down on my last day at Happyland, I felt truly happy too.